


Lady in Red

by Heart_Seoul_Soshi



Category: Descendants (Disney Movies)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-24
Updated: 2018-04-24
Packaged: 2019-04-27 04:12:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,990
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14417409
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Heart_Seoul_Soshi/pseuds/Heart_Seoul_Soshi
Summary: A different, more elegant twist on Mal's usual "sees Evie in a really killer outfit and immediately becomes too gay to function"





	Lady in Red

**Author's Note:**

> from an anonymous request on tumblr

If Mal didn't love those boys so darn much, she wouldn't even be in this mess in the first place. But curse it all, she did love them, so as evening fell she found herself in front of the bathroom mirror trying to coax her hair into a braided bun. Carlos and Jay's Tourney banquet was in a matter of hours, and leave it to them to invite their favorite girls to be their plus ones. Which meant that Mal, all dolled up in a dress of black and purple, would be spending the evening in a too-fancy dinner hall with her too-fancy outfit and too-fancy hair. But it was for Jay, and it was for Carlos, so Mal would just grin and bear it for the night.  
  
She wished Evie were there in the dorm, Mal could really use a hand with all this hair, but Evie of course had been very busy in the month leading to banquet and now had crisp dresses to deliver to various girls across campus. Mal was already tired of heels by the time Jay came to pick her up, but she put on a smile and a chipper attitude nonetheless.  
  
"You big phony," Jay kidded her, walking with her down the hallway.  
  
"Don't even start with the wisecracks," Mal broke down into her normal demeanor right away. "I could've turned down your invitation entirely and you'd be going to this thing with Dude as your date."  
  
Jay didn't heed her warnings to avoid wisecracking.  
  
"Well, you look really nice, Mal. When you're not cringing, that is."  
  
"This dress is really tight. As in, hard-to-breathe tight," Mal explained.  
  
"Maybe you'll catch Ben's eye and he'll ask you to dance."  
  
"Maybe he'll have some sense of self-preservation and won't."  
  
Any other girl at Auradon Prep would simply die to be the crush of the prince and future king, but Mal, of course, was not any other girl. The collection of nasty glances and jealous looks she got for spurning Ben's innocent and well-meaning affections were famous, but "bothered" and "perturbed" were not words that could ever describe Mal. She had no interest in dating a prince, so no matter how sweet his smiles or cordial his greetings, caving was not in Mal's vocabulary.  
  
Oddly enough, the exact same could be said for Evie. Evie, in spite of the decade of her mother's mind control, seemed to have no interest in dating a prince either.  _She_  had caught the eye of not a prince, but a band geek. Far be it for Mal to judge (harshly, at least), but Mal just couldn't wrap her head around the son of a guy named Dopey being any kind of a match for Evie. Happy's son, perhaps, maybe Doc's if he had an actual medical degree, but nothing in Evie's persona remotely had anything to do with "Dopey".  
  
Mal saw him there when the ride in the limo dropped them off at the hall, Doug was just arriving with the school band, abandoning their usual uniforms for suits and dresses of black. And Carlos was there, naturally, the first one to spot Mal and Jay and coming over to greet them. But yet, no Evie. Jay pushed his sleeve back as they stood in the spacious lobby to look at his watch, a gift from Coach Jenkins and not something he'd long ago nicked off of Chad Charming.  
  
"Whoa, Evie running late? Weird," he noted.  
  
"She had to chase a few girls down to get their dresses to them, kind of put a damper on her schedule," Carlos explained. "But she's Evie, she'll be here any minute."  
  
Any minute indeed. Mal and the boys had just barely wandered farther into the building to reach the dinner hall when the sudden whispers and turning of heads heralded Evie's arrival. The VKs swiveled their heads too, trying to catch that first glimpse of their resident fashionista, and she did not disappoint.  
  
Her hair was down, perfect waves hanging past her bare shoulders and the bib necklace that glittered around her neck like a bed of stars. She'd created her own dress after she finished everyone else's, but there was certainly nothing last minute about it. It curved in tight around her waist, highlighting a beautiful hourglass figure before flowing down to her feet and what were surely an impeccable pair of heels. And she'd fashioned herself a cape of tulle, almost as long as the dress itself and trailing elegantly behind her like the bridal train her mother dreamed and schemed that Evie would someday wear. There was a reason why no one in the entrance hall could take their eyes off of her, VKs included, and the beauty and style of the dress was only a fraction of it.  
  
It was how when heads turned and eyes strained to see Evie in what would no doubt be her brilliant blue, they instead saw red. Evie had traded sapphire for ruby tonight, quite a different picture entirely as she glided across the carpet to meet her friends.  
  
"What are you all looking at?" she asked with a playful laugh.  
  
Carlos blinked himself back to reality first, grinning at Evie and offering his arm.  
  
"A very classy lady," he said.  
  
Evie curtsied graciously and took his arm.  
  
"Wow...you look...beautiful, Evie," Mal said in a bit of a daze.  
  
Evie smiled at her.  
  
"Thank you, M."  
  
So Evie and Carlos, arm in arm, and Jay and Mal, arm in arm, made their way to the dining hall with all its lavishly tableclothed and decorated tables. They looked for their names among the placards to find which table the four were sitting at, but where they expected to read things such as "Mal of The Isle" and "Jay of the Isle", they were pleasantly surprised to find instead "Mal of Auradon", "Jay of Auradon", "Evie of Auradon", and "Carlos De Vil". A nice little touch that admittedly even brought the tiniest of smiles out of Mal. Funnily enough, Jay was apparently not entirely of Auradon yet, for he found himself entertaining the idea of swiping his placard and tucking it behind his lapel to serve as a keepsake for later. The four of them took their seats, getting comfortable and settling in for the night ahead.  
  
"We clean up nice," Jay noted with a laugh, taking in the sight of his friends.  
  
"We VKs always did have a sense of style," Evie proudly said.  
  
Mal would've called that an understatement, with her gaze still fixated on Evie sitting across from her. She was so used to the blue, the other palette of dark colors highlighting Evie's wardrobe, that she never once imagined such a bright red could ever take the place of Evie's signatures. But then again, she should've been able to imagine it. Evie was stunning in anything.  
  
"M, I'm so sorry I couldn't make it back in time to help you get ready," Evie quickly apologized.  
  
"I managed," Mal laughed it off, Evie's voice rousing her from her daze.  
  
Her own dress hadn't been an Evie original, and slipping into the dark purple with the black filigree painting a dazzling picture of thorny roses all the way up was no problem for Mal, not even tying the slippery satin sash around her middle. Although far out of her comfort zone in getting all prim and dressy for the banquet, when Mal had looked into the mirror and did her makeup she was sure she did a job that would make Evie proud. Jay was right, even though all of them save for Evie had never been ones for class, they all looked amazing, a picture perfect sight.  
  
Classmates swung by to give smiles and quick hellos before heading off to their own tables, even Fairy Godmother came over to gush and fawn and be proud of them. The once-rotten kids from The Isle sitting pretty at an Auradon affair, Jay and Carlos among the ones being honored and celebrated that night. Mal couldn't believe this was her life now. What's more, she couldn't believe that she found herself  _happy_ to admit that this was her life now. She could've passed on the suffocating dress and pinching heels, but this? This was all still so nice. Especially Evie. Evie who Mal  _still_ couldn't look away from for too long.  
  
The other boys on the Tourney team had made the mistake of informing Carlos and Jay of just how lavish the dinner spread was for banquet, and two hungry boys had forgone breakfast and lunch so they could stuff themselves to the brim with everything that would be served.  
  
"Hi guys," Ben walked over to say hello just before the hors d'oeuvres were about to come out.  
  
He greeted all of them, but it didn't take long before his focus was solely on Mal.  
  
"Mal, you look...incredible..." he said with a big smile.  
  
"She does," Evie agreed, nodding.  
  
Mal looked down at herself as if she'd already forgotten what she looked like.  
  
"Oh, thank you," she spoke to both Ben and Evie. But mainly Evie.  
  
It was clear on Ben's face that he had more to say to Mal, perhaps later inviting her to that dance that Jay guessed he would, but with the other VKs gathered around, he made small talk for just a few minutes more and then cordially dismissed himself. Evie was giving Mal a smirk and a knowing glance, the high school equivalent of the grade school "Ooooh he  _likes_  you!". Mal shook her head at her, ignoring the smirk completely as an army of waiters swarmed the room with the appetizers. Ben's crush was no secret, the whole school was in on it. Yet Mal found herself suddenly bothered by the fact that Evie knew about it too.  
  
The boys' faces were full of chicken wings and tiny little hamburger sliders, so they couldn't keep up with any conversation that the girls had at their sides.  
  
"So it's still a no on Ben, huh?" Evie guessed.  
  
"Evie, I am not now, nor will I ever be, interested in Ben. The princes are your thing, the dating is your thing."  
  
"What? You're just  _never_  going to date?" Evie questioned skeptically.  
  
"It's a waste of time," Mal insisted.  
  
"Not that you'd know from experience."  
  
Mal wanted to stick her tongue out at her, but it wouldn't be a gesture befitting a radiant young lady such as Evie.  
  
Mingling was not a thing they had on The Isle. You kept your head down—or up, depending on your status; the daughter of Maleficent would never be seen ducking her head past Lady Tremaine's deluded girls—and you minded your own business. So Mal and her friends weren't expecting to be visited and talked to all through dinner.  
  
Doug came around somewhere in between the salad and the filet mignon, wearing a dopey grin befitting of his father.  
  
"Hi," he waved at everyone. "Hi, Evie."  
  
And gave an even more dopey smile to her. The boys turned off to the side to hide their smirks and their chuckles, but Evie's stern side-eyeing of them said they were doing a poor job of it. She silently scolded them for just a second, before looking up at Doug and returning his smile. Mal watched it come to life, a bright and beaming thing, surely more fixated on Evie's smile than her dinner. She'd been in Auradon for months, met and known actual royalty, yet never had she ever seen someone as elegant and radiant as Evie was here and now.  
  
"So, Evie, the band's going to play after the speeches and everything, but there are...um, a few numbers they can do without me," Doug was turning bright red, just like Evie's dress. "Could I maybe...ask you to dance?"  
  
Evie looked flattered. Mal looked oddly pale.  
  
"Of course, Doug. I'd love to," Evie happily said.  
  
It was a promise between them, and Doug left with what almost seemed to be a skip in his step as he returned to his own table on the side of the room with the other band kids.  
  
"...You really like Doug?" Mal wondered, fork absentmindedly picking at what was left of her salad.  
  
"He's not exactly a prince," Jay pointed out, having skipped his salad entirely to dig right into the filet mignon.   
  
Evie shrugged, smiling shyly. Her shoulders were soft and smooth, rustling her hair as she moved.  
  
"He's sweet," she said. "And he never once saw me as just a villain kid. But I'd have to get to know him more first. A nice evening like this isn't a bad place to do it."  
  
Mal didn't like it. She had nothing against Doug, he really was kind, but everytime she caught him wistfully eyeing Evie with that silly smile...the phrase "out of your league" was one she came to associate with the whole situation. And the two of them would look woefully out of place in the middle of the room where tables were kept away to make space for dancing. Evie, a ruby queen of hearts, swaying back and forth with Doug, who awkwardly and just barely fit into his suit. Evie took note of the strange and sudden hardness in Mal's eyes.  
  
"...But we're not here to talk about Doug. We're here for our boys," she said, patting Carlos' arm.  
  
"Don't cut the girl talk on account of us," Carlos joked.  
  
But Mal was more than happy to cut the girl talk. She didn't want to discuss Doug, and she didn't want to discuss Ben. She wanted to enjoy a night with her truest friends and slip her heels off as much as possible underneath the table.  
  
She wanted to watch Evie move.  
  
The way her head tilted curiously to the side as she listened to Jay talk Tourney, as if smartly angling herself to hear every word just as clearly as she could. Her hair flowed and spilled like a river of blue as she did, waving down her shoulders the way a stream might wave and tumble down a mountainside. Mal and her eye for color were riveted by the contrast of blue and red, the bright and the dark so... _satisfying_  to see together. Evie couldn't possibly be real, Mal suddenly thought. There was just no way. There was magic in Auradon, sure, but no combination of spell and potion and sacred incantation could ever conjure up someone like Evie, the very definition of "ethereal" tonight.  
  
No one caught Mal staring. If they had, they would've called her out for her hypnotized gaze and mesmerized expression.  
  
The boys, nowhere near full and waiting on dessert, were both disheartened to learn that dessert was on hold until after the speeches and excited to hear that the awards were about to be given out. Mal couldn't help but smile at the proud and eager faces of Jay and Carlos as they watched their coach take the stage at the front of the room for an opening speech. Mal never understood the Tourney hype, but she didn't need to, all she needed to understand was how happy it made her friends.  
  
Carlos went up to accept his award for Most Improved Player, bashfully red in the face with his incredible grin and the claps of Mal and Evie drowning out the claps of everyone else in the room. The team voted Jay Most Inspiring Player, an award and title which brought something that looked suspiciously like a teary shine to Evie's eyes. Ben was given what was called the "King's Award" to no one's surprise, and when Chad was awarded Best Defensive Player he clung to the microphone stand in an attempt to make a speech before Coach Jenkins unceremoniously ushered him off the stage. A big round of applause when all the awards were handed out, a closing speech from Coach, and Carlos and Jay sitting proudly with their names engraved on their golden statuettes.  
  
"You guys are amazing," Evie gushed, hugging Carlos and then leaning around to her other side to hug Jay.  
  
Mal smiled, partly for the boys, partly for the happiness on Evie's face. Her brown eyes twinkled like stars, and Mal liked to stare into them more than any night sky. Happiness had always served Evie well, even on The Isle. She laughed as much as she could when she was away from mother and with the VKs, and often broke the cardinal rule of never smiling. She could just never help herself, being with her friends gave her something to smile about. Being with Evie gave Mal something to smile about.  
  
And dessert gave the boys something to smile about, an assortment of cupcakes with blue and yellow frosting, cookies, chocolate covered strawberries (Mal all but tackled Chad out of the way to get to the head of that line), and a fancy chocolate torte topped with raspberries.  
  
"...M?"  
  
For the second time that night Evie's voice again was the sole thing that brought Mal out of a daydreaming reverie. She shook her head distractedly and looked to Evie as if blinking stars from her eyes.  
  
"Hm?"  
  
"If you want one of my strawberries, all you have to do is ask."  
  
Mal had been fixated on something red, all right, just not the something red that Evie imagined.  
  
"Oh, um...no, E, I'm fine. Just daydreaming, that's all."  
  
"I can't blame you," if Evie's eyes were like stars, then her smile was the sun and moon. "This night has been incredible. Us, here, at a real Auradon banquet. Jay and Carlos are being  _honored,_  not rejected. A couple months ago people were hiding their valuables from Jay, and now they're giving him one."  
  
"With my name on it," Jay haughtily added with a smug grin.  
  
"It really is something," Mal agreed, focused completely on Evie.  
  
Her heart was beating fast. She didn't know why. But as the band took over for recordings over speakers, she suddenly felt that she'd spent far too much of the night being content with just sitting across from Evie.  
  
"...Evie, I know Doug asked you first, but...how about a dance?" she offered.  
  
"With you?" Evie looked surprised, eyes wide.  
  
Mal faltered, wishing she'd never opened her mouth and ducking her head down in embarrassment.  
  
"I mean, if you don't want to..."  
  
"M, of course I'd want to!" Evie quickly said. "I'd be honored to dance with you."  
  
She'd be honored to dance with Mal. She'd love to dance with Doug. Mal didn't know which one was better. But irregardless, she and Evie stood up from the table, leaving their desserts behind at the mercy of the boys. Mal couldn't find a word to describe how Evie looked as she glided effortlessly across the dinner hall floor, just walking, not even dancing yet. She imagined the cape trailing after Evie like a breeze given color was really a pair of wings, soft and featherlight.  
  
"...Do we dance?" Carlos asked when they were gone, turning his head to Jay.  
  
"No," Jay flatly answered.  
  
Out in the center of the room, Mal had no idea how dancing came so easily to her. Dancing with Evie, no less. Hand in hand, their arms around each other, just turning and swaying to the music. Of all the things about Evie that didn't seem real tonight, this moment was the most unreal of all.  
  
"...You're so beautiful, Evie," Mal senselessly blurted, turning red in the face before she fumbled to catch herself. "I mean, in your dress, you're so beautiful in this dress."  
  
"Thank you, M. So much," Evie looked so happy. "I know blue is my color, but, I don't know, I guess I just figured a fashion designer should branch out."  
  
"You'd look beautiful in anything," Mal assured her.  
  
"And you look beautiful tonight too, Mal."  
  
Mal could hardly believe that. Evie calling her beautiful, that was like...what? Hades proudly calling someone hot-headed? Mal couldn't even think of a good analogy, not with Evie so happy and carefree right in front of her.  
  
"Is it...is it weird if I tell you I haven't taken my eyes off of you all night?" Mal timidly asked.  
  
"No, not weird. Very flattering. And I noticed, Mal."  
  
Evie giggled as she spun a dazed Mal around.  
  
"...I guess stealth just isn't a thing I have in Auradon anymore," Mal murmured, her own laughter just then ashamed and nervous.  
  
"Well, maybe if you didn't shy away from complimenting me we'd both be a little happier."  
  
"Aren't we already happy, though?"  
  
"Yes, but this is Auradon, there's no such thing as too much happiness," Evie pointed out, squeezing Mal's hand a little tighter. "And besides...I like the way you say 'we'."  
  
Mal flushed red again. A popular color that evening.  
  
"Well, I mean, you and I are always we, so..." Mal trailed off, unsure of where she was going with that.  
  
They both turned on the dancefloor in time to see Doug with the school band, waving across the room to Evie with a cheery grin.  
  
"I said that Doug was sweet, and that he never saw me as just a villain kid," Evie distractedly started, staring out across the hall. "But he isn't the only one, and he certainly wasn't the first."  
  
"Are you trying to say I'm sweet?" Mal scoffed.  
  
Somehow, her addled brain got what Evie was hinting at.  
  
"What else would I call the girl who thinks I'm beautiful?"  
  
"A best friend?"  
  
Evie stepped in close, closer to Mal as they danced, just inches away.  
  
"For now," she said simply.  
  
Mal frowned, confused.  
  
"...For now?"  
  
Just as Evie stepped in, she now stepped away, separating from Mal and standing alone.  
  
"M, come on. You're the artist, I don't know how you haven't realized it yet."  
  
"Realized what?" Mal was still lost.  
  
"How blue and red make purple."  
  
It hadn't been too long since Mal had felt this stunned. The last time was just about two hours ago, when Evie regally walked in draped in red. As if perfectly reading Mal's expression, which probably wasn't even a very difficult thing to do, Evie obliged in a graceful twirl for what was obviously Mal's sake, dress and hair and fluttering cape twirling right along with her in the most beautiful of pirouettes. If Mal had chosen a flimsier set of heels she would've fallen right over with her suddenly sketchy balance and forever given Evie the right to brag about literally sweeping Mal off her feet. The tiniest of smiles curved Evie's perfect lips.  
  
"Dating isn't always a waste of time, M. At least, not when you find the right person."  
  
"...But the dating is your thing. The princes are your thing," Mal blankly repeated the night's earlier sentiments, mouth moving on its own while her brain worked to process.  
  
And the twinkle in Evie's eyes had never been more sharp.  
  
"You're half right, Mal."  
  
Evie excused herself with a bow of the head, mannerisms every bit the royal she was in her blood. Mal watched her disappear into the dancing crowd like a rose among swaying grass, leaving to return to their table to smoothly slide back into conversation with the boys and wait for Doug to offer his dance. It took a moment—leave it to Evie to effortlessly addle hearts and minds—but Mal found her senses again. Drifted after Evie and back to the table with a smile to give Doug's a run for his money. Turned out she was right, Evie looked good in anything, and  _doing_ anything too. Walking, talking, dancing...flirting.  
  
Mal meant exactly what she said and felt in the talk following Ben's cordial greeting; she didn't want to date a prince. But it seemed that she wouldn't at all mind dating a princess. 


End file.
